Participatory democracy Archives

After the tumultuous years for the transatlantic relationship under Donald Trump, Joe Biden's promise that "America is back" as he meets Western allies are a welcome relief. But they're not enough, diplomats and foreign policy experts say.

The European Parliament has begun a much needed reflection process with a view to updating the way that the institution works, writes David Sassoli.

There are many advantages in the EU becoming more financially independent of the member states, write Jakub Kučera and Lukáš Rejzek.

A quarter of EU citizens living in the UK do not feel they are treated equally to UK citizens, according to the first survey of EU citizens by the watchdog set to protect their rights published on Thursday (13 May).

Recent reports have confirmed the negative trend for media freedom in Hungary but also pointed to Budapest's negative impact on press freedom in neighbouring countries. On World Press Freedom Day (3 May), EURACTIV talked to two of the main experts on Hungarian media.

In its latest report published on Wednesday (28 April) the NGO Freedom House warns of an "antidemocratic turn" throughout Europe, “fuelling a deterioration in human freedom with global implications”.

With France set to take over the rotating EU Council Presidency in the first half of 2022, European Affairs Minister Clément Beaune last week launched two committees: a monitoring committee and a reflection committee. EURACTIV France reports.

The citizens' rights watchdog set up to protect the rights of EU nationals living in the UK is conducting its first survey to understand the level of public concern about living in Britain after Brexit.

European democracy is in urgent need of reinventing itself. Under threat by polarization and disinformation, deliberative democracy could help bring back power to the people, from the hyperlocal to the international political field, write Pepijn Kennis and Samuel Doveri Vesterbye.

The European Commission said on Friday (15 January) that it would not propose new laws in response to a petition demanding a protection package for national minorities that garnered 1.1 million signatures across the EU.

The latest successful European Citizens' Initiative, Minority SafePack, is a rare opportunity to take democratic participation seriously, after a number of previous ECis failed to garner enough attention or make an impact on EU legislation, writes Carsten Berg.

EU was hesitant on Wednesday (6 January) to resort to trade sanctions following the announcement of heavy sentences of journalists in Vietnam, a latest development in the communist country's crackdown on dissent. Three journalists, members of the Independent Journalists’ Association of …

During the crisis-ridden last decade, the EU has stumbled into a new intergovernmentalism presented as an apparently pragmatic problem-solving approach. But side-lining the European Parliament is not just a problem for the EU’s legitimacy, but also results in negotiation deadlocks …

More than half of EU countries failed to safeguard people’s right to peaceful assembly during the pandemic, peaceful protests were violently disrupted by police, and tight restrictions on fundamental rights remained in place even after social distancing measures were scaled back for businesses, a new report by civil rights watchdogs found.

Beware of US elections, which may end up with the world’s most powerful nation bogged down in a constitutional crisis, writes Dick Roche. Dick Roche is a former European Affairs minister of Ireland. On 3 November US voters will elect Members of …

In these difficult times for liberal democracy, the EU has to ensure its credibility more decisively than ever, writes Darya Mustafayeva.

The response by EU leaders to the COVID-19 crisis suggests that solidarity is on the rise. But what about solidarity between Europe’s own citizens, and the 65 million Britons who face losing their rights to EU citizenship? A group of authors provide their thoughts.

Tens of thousands of Belarusians staged a wave of peaceful protests on Thursday (13 August) against President Alexander Lukashenko's disputed re-election and an ensuing brutal police crackdown.

Nationalist reactions to the spread of the coronavirus have further worsened already strained transatlantic relations. But GMF President Karen Donfried believes that the pandemic will underline the importance of cooperation. An interview from EURACTIV Germany.

The increasing failure of multilateralism to provide global solutions to global problems is alarming. Could the European political parties play a role in strengthening international rule-making? European political families have been the drivers of European integration for the past 60 years. …

Landlords and civil society campaigners have urged Boris Johnson’s government to provide physical proof for EU citizens living in the UK, warning that landlords and employers could otherwise be reluctant to let a home or offer a job to EU citizens.

Among the many foreign policy challenges facing the EU in 2020, the main theme will be how to assert itself on the world stage against China, the US and Russia, while upholding multilateralism and at least a semblance of global order.

30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall it is time to bring back the spirit of '89 to forge a new rEUnaissance, argues Luca Jahier.